This invention relates to a reinforcing member and a reinforced panel.
Weight reduction is desirable, for instance, in the automobile field, for resource-saving and energy-saving purposes. If weight reduction is achieved by decreasing the thickness of parts, or by reducing the number of components, strength is decreased. As a result, automotive body panels, particularly in doors, may have numerous weak points. The strength, and particularly tensile strength, of the outer panels may be significantly decreased. This results in poor door handling feelings for passengers.
Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a suitable reinforcing material. Reinforcement with heavy sheet metal is contradictory to the purpose of weight reduction. Thus, it has been proposed to reinforce the door outer panels or the like entirely or partly with a light resin sheet.
However, because prior art resin reinforcing have previously been just a thin resin sheet adhered onto an outer panel of a door, they have been nearly useless from the standpoint of increasing thickness and strength. If the thickness of the resin sheet is increased, then weight is increased. If packing is used between the resin sheet and the inside of the door outer panel to increase the thickness, then the resin sheet cannot be securely attached to the panel, and the structure is more complicated than necessary.